Lok Sabha elections are around the corner and the participation from Congress can’t be witnessed anywhere on the ground. Beginning my discussion with announcing the list of the candidates, BJP declared the list of its potential candidates way too earlier than Congress. While Congress was trying to find the suitable candidates to give tickets, these contestants were not willing to take the pass as they believed the party would not be able to make through the Lok Sabha elections 2019. Many senior Congress leaders are not keen to contest the parliamentary elections due to the party’s weak position in the state. And in my opinion, that’s the reason why Congress declared the list of its candidates later. 

Now, if I discuss difference in ground campaigns and activities conducted by both parties to interact with their voters and candidates, Congress appears to be very inactive because neither did they direct numerous campaigns, nor did any activities in Himachal. While on the contrary, BJP leaders are continuously interacting with the people and candidates to ensure a proper flow of communication.  

BJP’s presence in Himachal can be witnessed with the number of posters, hoarding or pamphlets that are distributed by the BJP candidates. The BJP government has provided all the campaigning pre-requisites to its candidates on time, and several activities are conducted, for spreading awareness about various BJP’s policies and schemes that were launched by the government for the welfare of the people. As far as campaigning is concerned, the BJP has already conducted ‘Panna Pramukh Sammelan’ in all four parliamentary constituencies. These meetings for strategizing regarding elections were approached by central leaders like BJP National President Sh. Amit Shah, and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Sh. Nitin Gadkari and Sh. J P Nadda. 

The Congress government has not initiated any such campaigns and has conducted very few rallies in Himachal Pradesh. The supreme mentors have not even provided the candidate’s election hoarding, banners, pamphlets or other pre-requisites. It appears Congress has admitted their defeat in the upcoming elections and that’s the reason all the karyakartas are not participating actively and are not showing much interest in the campaigns or any other election-related activities. Moreover, the party is not even aware of the number of rallies or campaigns that are being conducted by the candidates. Recently, Rahul Gandhi summoned Kuldeep Singh Rathore, President of Himachal Congress, to submit the reports about the same. 

In my belief, it is the unity of party leaders too that plays a significant role in the success of any party.  If we focus on  BJP’s party strength, every party member supports each other and is seen taking a stand for each other during a tough time. On the converse, relative case of unity cannot be observed within the members or leaders of Congress. Internal fights between leaders are more notable than winning or working on election campaigns.

Another crucial point I would like to bring to your notice is that Himachal Congress is not much active on Social Media as well. Congress Himachal does not connect with the people on social media, and the number of posts done by the party or candidate are quite less. Neither a piece of information about the candidate nor campaign is shared with people through Social Media until very recently. Moreover, the number of people following Congress Himachal is substantially less than the number of people following the BJP Himachal. 

While on the other hand, BJP candidates are active and are seen posting & interacting with the people much often. The party shares their activities and details about the candidates with their followers in order to keep them updated about what the party is doing.  Also, the schedule of rallies or campaigns is shared prior with people so that they can come & participate actively in the rally.  

Conclusion:

Earlier, BJP in Himachal made a new record by winning all the four Lok Sabha seats in the Lok Sabha elections 2014. The results are expected to be the same even this time. BJP, unlike Congress, is not defaced by factionalism. Another main strength that BJP enjoys is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is quite conscious of the political situation and ground realities of Himachal, as he had been the party in charge of Himachal for six years. And I believe, Modi ji not only shares a unique bond with Himachal but the people adore him and are delighted with the schemes that he launched for the welfare of the people. The success of the party is guaranteed, for the upcoming election.